Woe is the political junkie who lives in Illinois

June 6th, 2008 at 03:29pm Pat Cunningham

 

Those of us who live in Illinois, one of the bluest of America’s blue states and the home state of Barack Obama, are going to experience only vicariously any of the ground-level politicking in the presidential campaign of the next five months.

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind about where Illinois’ 21 electoral votes are going in November. Consequently, neither the Obama team nor John McCain’s campaign are going to put much effort or money into our state. So, there’s not likely to be much radio or TV advertising for either candidate in local markets in Illinois. We’ll have to content ourselves with the ads we catch on national networks. (But, of course, I’ll be posting a lot of them here.)

One consolation: Perhaps some of the so-called down-ticket races in Illinois — contests for Congress and the state legislature — will be made more interesting by the Obama factor. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s previously safe Republican seat already has fallen into the hands of a Democrat whose special-election campaign prominently featured ads in which Obama touted the candidate. Obama’s coattails — or the fear of them — could make a few other Illinois races more fun to watch than otherwise would be the case.

Still, it disappoints me to think that neither Obama nor McCain are likely to attend rallies in these parts this summer and early fall. Nor are their supporters likely to knock on our doors or otherwise regale us about their candidates’ qualifications.

Oh, well. Wisconsin isn’t far away.

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